Thursday, September 29, 2011

I was cutting soap today, and one of the bars caught my eye as a great example of discoloration. (see previous post for more info on various effects fragrances have on soap - other then "smell".)

Frankincense & Myrrh Soap, just after being cut. Before it's fully discolored.

This bar will be a rather dark bar - in a couple of weeks. BUT, shortly after being cut, you can see very clearly how different the bar will soon look. How cool is that?!

And what's on the bars in the background, you ask? I added gold colored mica (it's bronze, actually) to the tops of the bar so that it's truly a "Christmas" bar of soap. Being Frankincense & Myrrh, with a bit of gold on top. :->

Friday, September 23, 2011

There are all kinds of important reasons to test new soap fragrances. Some fragrances don’t stick, some fragrances change completely when soaped (aka: morphing). Some cause problems while soaping (acceleration & ricing are two terms soapers use to describe potential issues with fragrances), some aggravate potential problems down the road.

This pic is a great visual for another reason to test fragrances. SOME fragrances cause discoloration in soap.

The pic doesn't show it, but the top right bar even has a tinge of green to it.

These 8 sample bars are from one test batch. The soap formula I used makes a rather white soap. I made one batch and divided it into 8 portions and mixed in the appropriate amount of fragrance. Each bar is a different fragrance. The results show a great variety of discoloration a simple fragrance can have on a bar of soap. And remember – the bars were made at the same time, in the same pot, all the exact same formulation… just divided into 8 portions, with 8 different fragrances.

Here's the other part of the equation we'll have to update you on later. Soap color can change over time. This pic was taken two days after soaping. Some will darken even more. Some won't change. Some will change color hues.

And WHY is this important? Let's say that I want to color my bar... and perhaps I have GREEN in mind. Fragrances B and C obviously won't have a good chance at being colored Green. They're simply going to be too dark. Yes, btw, the soaps have letters carved into the top ("A" is the top left, "B" is beneath it... and so on. "E" is the top right.) Matters not to you and the pic, really. But later, down the road - we'll still need to know which bar is which. I've made notes on the bottom of these bars as well.

We'll check back in with these soaps in a month or so... I bet they change even more. Until then, thanks for joining me behind the scenes!